Realisation
by KritiPotterWhovian
Summary: 'He didn't even know when he realized he had feelings for her' Joe Walker falls in love with Lauren Lopez. Should he tell her or keep silent about it, so as not to ruin their friendship, if she doesn't feel the same way.
1. Chapter 1

The curtain dropped and the group relaxed.

"It's over guys! Oh my god, I can't believe this is the end of Starship" Denise spoke.

"We still have the meet and greet. So get changed and let's get out there so we can celebrate later at the Starkid Manor" Nick stated.

Everyone rushed off to change quickly. Joe Walker sighed, as he stayed on stage.

"Hey, what's up man?" Joe Moses asked, walking back onstage after having noticed Joe had remained back.

"Nah, nothing" Walker shook his head.

"Well, come on then, we've got a meet and greet to do, then it's party time" Moses said. Walker smiled and then followed Moses off stage.

What could he say even? That he was in love with Lauren Lopez. Joe didn't even know when he had started to get feelings for her. It had just happened over the course of their friendship. Joe still remembered the first time he had met Lauren.

_Joe had been invited to a dorm party by his new classmate Darren. They had turned up to find the party in full spring. Joe followed Darren over to a group of guys. _

"_Hey Joey, this is Joe" Darren called to one of the guys who turned to them._

"_Hi" Joe nodded his head. Joey nodded back. _

_Joe quickly glanced around the party; people were dancing to the beat of the music, others were just standing around talking. A group were playing beer pong to the corner. _

_Suddenly he got pushed into Joey. _

"_Oops sorry" Joe turned around to see a slightly tipsy girl, who had started giggling. Her friend quickly came to her side. _

"_Sorry, Lauren's a bit drunk" the friend said. _

"_I'm not!" Lauren added. _

"_It's ok" Joe nodded, turning back to talk with Joey, Darren and the other guys. _

_After five minutes, Joe excused himself to go get a drink. At the drinks table, he reached for a cup however someone beat him to it and quickly grabbed the cup Joe was reaching for. Joe looked at who it was; it was Lauren who noticed he was looking at her. _

"_What? Oh, sorry was that your drink?" _

"_Never mind" Joe shook his head, reaching for another cup. _

"_I'm Lauren by the way"_

"_Joe"_

"_Nice name"_

"_Yours too" _

_Lauren's friend appeared again, just as Lauren was about to reach for another cup,_

"_Lauren, you're not drinking anymore" she said._

"_But Julia-" Lauren whined._

"_You've had loads to drink already" Julia rolled her eyes, before grabbing Lauren and dragging her away. Lauren turned around._

"_Bye Joe" she smiled, waving madly. _

_Joe just smiled in amusement. _

That was the first time. The second time was when they properly got introduced and the first time Starkid members met. Joe remembered Lauren strolling in with big sunglasses on and large cup of coffee at hand. She had been hungover, and when Joe had told her of the events of the party the previous night, she had groaned and apologised. This had been the start of their friendship.

After a quick change, Joe followed the others out to do the meet and greet. They were a lot of fans waiting for them, seeing as this had been the last performance date. Joe walked upto a group of fans and he was soon caught up into talking to all the fans, it was soon over. The last of the fans left, and the group cheered.

"Time to party!"

"Ok, guys, back to Starkid Manor"

Everybody collected their stuff and rushed out to decide who was going with who. Joe found himself with Joey, Jaime, Denise and Lauren. Deciding to get there before everybody else, the five quickly got in to Joe's car. Joey, Denise and Jaime slipped into the back and Lauren was left to take the front seat.

"Let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So here's the second chapter. Hope you like it. Sorry if this chapter is a bit lame, but I was trying to think so much how to write it; and this was the end result. I promise to make the next chapter juicier if you guys read it and review.**

**Don'tForgetTheNotes: Thanks. And there will be drunk Lauren in a future chapter. But we all know Lauren is fun, even when she is sober **

The party at Starkid Manor was anything but boring. Brian and Dylan took charge of the music, and Lauren and Jaime had soon found food and drinks. Meredith, Joey, Jaime, Julia, Dylan, Lauren, Moses and Brant soon started a game of truth or dare. Joe watched them as he sat, drinking a bottle of beer.

"Hey Joe, you not playing?" asked Brian, coming over and sitting down next to Joe.

"Nah"

Joe watched as Lauren had her turn, and she dared Joey to do a prank call. Julia gestured at Nick to lower the volume of the music, as Joey decided on Darren and called him.

"Hello"

"Darren, its Chris"

"Nice try Joey"

"What? How did you know it was me?"

"You left your caller id on"

"Joey!" everyone groaned in annoyance.

"Hey guys, see you're having a party without me" Darren spoke.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you leave Starkid, Criss" Lauren called out. Darren laughed. They heard another voice on the other side.

"Oh, Mia says hi guys"

"Hey Mia!" everyone called out again.

"Ok, we have to go, so talk to you guys later" Darren said, and everyone yelled their byes before Joey hung up.

The music was turned up again and everyone carried on what they were doing before. Joe watched as Joey gave Jaime a dare. As Jaime did her dare, Lauren got up to get herself a drink. Passing Joe and Brian, she smiled. Joe watched her walk to the table and then come back to the game. Brian noticed the direction of Joe's gaze.

"What's up, man? You've been looking at Lauren awful lot these days?

"What? What do you mean?" Joe was startled. Was he being obvious?

"During Starship, we noticed you kept looking at her" Brian explained.

"I haven't. And who's we?"

"Me, Moses and Meredith"

"Well, I'm working with her as partners and I have to look at her while we're acting. Where else am I to look?"

"We all worked with Lauren at some stage of Starship but even when you weren't in the same scene as her, we noticed you looking at her"

Joe looked at Brian, who was looking back at him questioningly.

"Meredith thinks you like Lauren" Brian said, leaning in.

"What? No!" Joe shook his head.

"You are obvious, Walker"

"Shut up, Brian" Joe snapped before he stood up and walked out.

He sighed as the cool air embraced him. What was he going to do now? Meredith, Brian and Moses had figured him out already, how long before all of them found out? And, what about Lauren? What would she do when she found out? He didn't know if she even liked him back. He felt so stupid. Joe shook his head, trying to clear his head.

Behind him, he heard voices. He heard someone come outside behind him.

"Oh, hey Walker, what are you doing out here?" It was Lauren.

"Oh, just wanted to get some fresh air. You?" Joe asked, turning to face Lauren. She raised a bottle to show him.

"How many have you had?" he asked, laughing.

"This is my second one!"

"Yeah, but you had one on the drive here"

"Ok, fine, this is my third drink" Lauren admitted.

She sat down and pulled Joe down to get him to sit as well. They both sat in silence before Lauren started giggling. Joe looked at her in amusement.

"Sorry but you missed Mere do her dare. She had to sing to Brian, and he didn't know what was going on" Lauren was laughing now.

Joe smiled. He looked at Lauren and couldn't help noticing the way her eyes lit up. She noticed him looking.

"What?"

"Nothing"

They kept looking at each other. A minute passed. Everything stilled, as if time had stopped, and all sound disappeared.

Lauren slowly leaned in, her face getting closer to Joe's. She closed her eyes.

"Lauren! There you are, we were wondering where you got to" Joey called out, interrupting them. Lauren jumped, moving away from Joe. Joey didn't seem to notice.

"We stopped playing; Meredith and Jaime want to watch a movie now"

"Oh, I want to choose!" Lauren said, jumping up and rushing inside. Joe remained sitting.

"Joe, you coming?" Joey asked, gesturing inside.

"Yeah, you go, I'll be there in a minute"

Joey walked back inside, leaving Joe.

What had just nearly happened? They had nearly kissed. Did she like him, or was this due to her having been drinking? Thank god that Joey had interrupted at the right time; Joe wanted Lauren to kiss him because she liked him, not because she was drunk. But at the same time, he wished Joey hadn't interrupted them, because he had wanted to kiss her. Joe sighed, standing up before going back inside.

**So there you have it. Please send me a review, telling me what you think.**


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